Paramount has purchased the rights to an article which ran in the New York Times on June 12th called Mystery on Fifth Avenue. JJ Abrams will produce a feature film based on the article which describes a 14th-floor apartment on upper Fifth Avenue which contains a Rube Goldberg maze of systems and contraptions conceived by a young architectural designer named Eric Clough. Apparently the apartment comes with its own soundtrack and a book, featuring a fictional narrative which will help their four pre-teen children uncover some the secrets, messages, games and treasures hidden inside the furniture and walls.

Screenwriters Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky (The Rocker) have been hired to weave the idea into a feature film. I can definitely see a movie in the same vein as Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events or Spiderwick Chronicles (but without the fantasy elements), where a group of children must uncover the secrets of their New York City apartment, possibly in an attempt to save their parents or grandparents. You can read the entire article on NYTimes.com, or better yet, check out 15 photos from the real life Fifth Avenue apartment at this link.